Saturday, October 6, 2007

In-Progress At Talladega: Craftsman Trucks On SPEED

This afternoon at 3:30PM SPEED will carry the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series live from Talladega. The telecast will begin with The Set-Up pre-race show for thirty minutes, and the event coverage begins at 4PM Eastern Daylight Time.

Krista Voda will host the Set-up show as she has done all season. Rick Allen will call the play-by-play on the race, with Phil Parsons doing the color. On pit road for both the pre-race and the race itself will be Adam Alexander and Bob Dillner.

On Thursday of this week, The Daly Planet broke the news that SPEED veteran Ray Dunlap had again been suspended by the network. Dunlap will miss the next three Truck Series races, and return in November at Texas. SPEED will not comment on the reason for the suspension.

Earlier in his career, Dunlap was suspended for his comments on a live SPEED program for one week. The network did make clear that in this case, it was not for something that happened on-the-air. The said it was a personnel issue.

UPDATE: SPEED has said that Tony Stewart will be Krista Voda's guest on the pre-race show. That should be interesting.

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50 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Poor Ray! Man, who is going to tell me about the latest Craftsman tools? Ray is a wise guy with a mouth on him -- but you must admit he knows his job. On the downside, Ray reminds me of John Madden with respect to John having a sweet spot for Brett Farve. The same can be said for Ray and Skinner. Ray mentions Mike Skinner at least 37 times in each broadcast. Oh well I guess life moves on...

I think they had to do something with Krista and the ever-blowing hair deal. I cant count the times I have seen her hands try to control her blowing hair during this little outdoor event. Its funny to see Stewart on his best behavior, just doesnt fit his style.

I see Krista is working on her signature look, the stupid hat of the week. Why can't we just have Rick and Phil preview the race, while mixing in the pit reporters for interviews? Rick's voice gives me the sense that it's a big event. Laurie S.Nashville

Maybe Speed thought they were doing Tony Stewart fans a service by having him on live during a truck race. No one gets to see him during the Cup and Busch races on ESPN because of his ridiculous feud with the network.

Other than that I see no reason for having a Cup driver on during the Truck race pre-race show.

In my opinion it's only damage control if he opens up to the ESPN guys. He's been all over Speed Channel in recent weeks. The cameraman incident was with ESPN, and that's the network he's had a problem with. Unless he shows up on the ABC Countdown show tomorrow I'm not buying the damage control theory.

I think the ratings are not very good. They did a .05 at Las Vegas, which is embarrassing judging from past races and busch series. I think they are trying to bring in star power to help out. I think Phil does a great job, why do we need Michael Waltrip. He is sooooo bad. His voice is like nails across a chalk board.

Does anyone listening to the radio or watching the online scoring know if this coverage is actually live? If so that would be a first for Speed this weekend after the tape-delayed qualifying coverage and ARCA race.

I don't mind his presence at all. He has the enthusiam of Brad Daugherty that we all love so much but also adds the experience of being a driver and owner. I know that experience is not specifically in a truck, but where are you going to find a color anaylst with any significant Truck Series experience?

I like Mikey in the booth, he gets excited about the racing and his incite into what the drivers on the track might be thinking makes it fun for me. If you pay attention he mentions many drives sponsers not just his own. He does however need a Schrader at his elbow to tell him when he is starting to talk to much.

Tony has two wins in the Truck series ... and is one of 18-20 drivers that have wins in all 3 series ... Add in the open wheel experience ... He's a good guest when it comes to being a former open wheeler trying to make it in NASCAR ...

I don't like the fact that the Speed guys are instantly pulling the "something obviously broke on (Villeneueve's) truck". The video looked very inconclusive and it very well could have been a simple case of driver error by a driver making his second ever start in a vehicle with fenders. I'm sure the Cup guys that voiced concerns over Jacques getting instant clearance to run in the Cup race at Talladega are even more concerned now if that was indeed a case of inexperience causing that crash.

Again, we haven't heard from him yet but if something didn't break on his truck and he caused that wreck by making a mistake I certainly hope ABC will make Villenueve a big story on the pre-race show tomorrow.

Say what you will about Mikey, but he does provide some good insight from a driver's perspective & does it with energy (yes sometimes a little TOO much). But hey, would anybody really rather have Punch/Wallace/Petree calling this race?!?!?! For a race that hasn't had much excitement today these guys at least keep me watching. And thats thanks to their energy & excitement in the booth. If this was on ESPN/ABC I'd be watching football until 2 laps to go........

Nope, nothing broke on his truck. It was just driver error by an inexperienced driver. I hope the ESPN guys don't cover up this obvious controversial subject in the pre-race show tomorrow. Drivers and fans have been very critical of NASCAR's decision to approve Jacques to run the Cup race, and with today's incident shining a brighter light on it I certainly hope ESPN isn't afraid to talk about it. I'm sure Brad Daugherty for one will speak his mind on the subject instead of giving the politically correct answer that other analysts might give.

I don't see how you can "hype" this story. NASCAR made a controversial decision to clear Jacques to run the Cup race despite having only 1 prior Truck start (in which he crashed) to his credit before this weekend. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch openly criticized that decision, and numerous fans have also been very outspoken on this issue. Add in the fact the Jacques made a mistake and caused a crash in the truck race at Talladega, I'd say this is a major story that's worth discussing on the air.

I know ESPN's going to mention Jacques, because he's an F1 champion and Indy 500 winner making his stock car debut. I just hope that they are fair and don't hide the fact that there is a legitimate concern over his presence in this race. I hope they do more than just tell a story talking about how much of a world-clas driver he is and how great this is for NASCAR, and skip over the obvious controversy surrounding his being there.

On another note, I've never been a big Bob Dilner fan, but I think he's done a good job filling in for Ray today. He hasn't been his overly dramatic, in your face self as we sometimes see on SPEED Report among other programs. He seems to have found his role & is fitting into it & contributing nicely today.

Too bad for Travis, I was hoping for him to keep up the charge & give us a 3-way fight for the title!

I'm not sure what you mean. I didn't have a problem with the finish. No, they didn't have the camera zoomed in on the top 2 at the line like TNT did at the Pepsi 400 with McMurray and Busch but if they zoomed in they would have missed all the trucks cross the line, which is something fans constantly complain about, including myself.

Anonymous said... Directing was off they just went to Rick Crawford as they were announcing Todd Bodine. What was that about?

October 6, 2007 6:25 PM

that's not the directors fault really. The director was set on the interview with rick when probably someone else called Todd out of the truck. the director had to catch up... and he did. Catching Todd right as he was getting out. It was someone's fault. I don't think it was the director's.

Couple comments on the comments here. Is looking like Britney Spears a bad thing? Don't think so. Is acting like Britney Spears a bad thing? Absolutly!!! Has anyone here ever seen Krista in a ponytail? Don't think so. Do you think it might mean she doesn't like them? Probably!!! Did anyone not enjoy Tony on the show? I did, Absolutly!!! Do you think just maybe Tony(& Dale Jr.) feels more at ease with the easy going professionalism of the Speed and Fox broadcasters? It sure looks like it to me. Did anyone not enjoy the prerace show. I did, Absolutly!!! Missed Ray, but Bob did fine. Keep up the good work on "The Setup" Krista and Speed. It is always a fun and informative show.

No offense, Mr. Daly, but I wouldn't complain about the finish. Looking back at older races with close finishes, the cameras followed the trucks/cars involved in it after the line. No wide shot was needed, as EVERY race does not need the shot especially when the lead machines are within hundredths of a second. It would be nice to see more often, I agree, but was unnecessary in this situation

Too bad she doesn't look like Briney Spears, but she doesn't, just copying her stupid hat. It was stupid when Brit wore it, and it's even more stupid with Krista wearing it. Each week she brings out the ugliest hat award.

I think she's mediocre on the air, it's just hype because she plays up the blonde thing like Jamie Little. Both have web sites showing their navel. Now that's professional hard core journalism.